Monday, December 15, 2008

John Goldberger is a Rolex connoisseur/collector. His passion for excellent, beautiful and rare Rolex watches is both intoxicating and awe-inspiring at the same time.

John is from Italy, and he recently wrote an amazing Rolex book named 100 Superlative Rolex Watches which contains Rolex watches from the top 5 Rolex connoisseur's on earth–including his own magnificent collection. You can read the review and also listen to the detailed podcast interview by clicking here.

Last year, John took this photo of what he refers to as the rarest Rolex, a Reference 4113, split-chronograph. Rolex only made 12 of these watches in 1943 for the Italian Army.

The watch came from the Mondani collection and was originally auctioned by Antiquorum in 2006. John also owns another one of the 12 which you can find in his book on page 62.

Click on image for great detail

John Goldberger took this stunning photograph of his prized possession split-chronometer next to jumbo stone crab claws at Garcia's Restaurant in Miami, Florida. Those claws are really jumbo because the Rolex Reference 4413 split-chronograph is a whopping 44mm.

The Rolex split-chronographs have a Valjoux 55 caliber movement. John mentioned in his email to me that "This caliber was used in other split chronographs like the 24h. Chronograph by Universal (made also for Italian military supplier Cairelli in Rome.)"

The Rolex has a matt silvered dial with pink gold relief Arabic and Baton indexes, with an outer 1/5 seconds division, outer black tachometer scale along with a blue inner telemeter scale. The watch also has pink gold Baton hands and a subsidiary seconds and 30-minute register dial.

IF YOU ENJOY JAKE'S ROLEX WORLD BE CERTAIN TO CHECK OUT JAKE'S OTHER BLOGS:

San Francisco, California

INSIDE ROLEX

Historically Rolex has always been extremely secretive and discreet, and no journalists in the past have ever been invited "INSIDE ROLEX" to explore and report on all four Rolex Manufacturing faclities in Switzerland.

In November 2013, this changed when Rolex invited Jake to take an unprecdented journey into the heart of Rolex to learn and report on everything he witnessed and learned.

This Super-Detailed 3 Part Story is a "MUST READ" story for anybody who wants to understand what really makes Rolex tick.

The Hans Wilsdorf Story: Founder Of Rolex

Rolex is one of the most recognizable brands on earth, but very little has been known about its real history. If you really, really want to understand what makes Rolex tick, I very highly recommend you read the fascinating story of Rolex's amazing founder–Hans Wilsdorf.